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Friday, March 30, 2012

In my teenage years, I was a camp counselor. It made for glorious summers, up in the hills above the beach town of Capitola, California.

With the backdrop of an old logging town, we spent cool foggy mornings doing pottery, crafts, riding horses, swimming. By lunch time the sun would break through the fog, reminding us that it was in fact summer and we were in truth in California. And the activities continued, some in the hot sun, some under the branches of a forest of redwood trees.

As counselors, we were responsible for a cabin of eight kids. This was the quintessential sleep away camp, four sets of bunk beds nestled in wooden cabins with corrugated tin roofs. The sounds of these cabins still ring in my ears, the crows hopping on the roof, twigs and pine cones dropping from trees, the sound of the drops of dewy fog dripping on the metal. The cabin doors screeched on springs before they shut, making a loud hollow thump as the door met the frame.

Once a week, all of the cabins headed out to sleep in the woods. We called this "Outpost," an event that had its own song, which we all sang as we marched out with provisions for the night, and began setting up for the evening. Without tents, the little ones slept under those big trees, woke up with dampened hair, and played all day in the streams and hillside. Dinner was cooked over the open fire, and then s'mores were made, with the accompanying Hershey bar undoubtedly being the most discussed delicacy after a week of no candy.

The next morning, after pancakes were made over the same fire, many cabins would clean up and hike to the giant redwood tree, to see it's massive size. The hike wasn't easy, but the most anticipated moment was when the campers, holding hands, would see how many children it would take to circle the tree. You needed more than one cabin to do this. If they were the younger smaller children, they sometimes needed three cabins to close the loop.

And so, hand in hand, standing in silence and awe, the children would create a chain around the old giant. They'd count out their numbers, amazed at it's size, measured in humans. My favorite memories are of the times when there were just enough children to make the circle, and so they stood, hand in hand, so close to the tree that they were each hugging it, pressing their cheeks to the bark, as close as they could get to nature.

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

The entry that received the most clicks was Letter of the Week - H by Two Sasters.Cari and Cortnee consistently come up with very clever crafts (so many c words!) and I love how they keep their kiddos involved and happy.

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The "Best Craft by Kids" award this week goes to Kara at Pam's Practical Party Tips. She created a stylish and adorable birds' nest craft, which is just perfect for older kids. Well done!

The "Editor's Choice" award goes to Crafty Kids' Jellyfish in a Bottle. I know that Zoom adores jellyfish, and this cute craft is both simple and engaging for little minds. It brings in both science and hands on fun, and it's the kind of thing that would be great on a rainy afternoon.

Thank you to everyone for your submissions - and if you've been featured, please grab a button :)

A few rules for the linky party:
1. Link to your specific post, not the main page of your blog.
2. Grab the party button and post it on your blog or post so other people know about the party.
3. Please become a follower of Welcoming Spirit :) when you join the party.
4. Please do not add links that promote other giveaways, link parties or online shops. And please only add links for crafts that you have not submitted on Welcoming Spirit before.

The link party will start at 10:24am Thursday and end on Wednesday at 11:59pm (Pacific Time). By entering your link, you are giving me permission to use any part of your post including pictures in a spotlight on Welcoming Spirit. (I can't wait to highlight your work and give you credit and links back :)!

It's that time of the week again to link up! What have you all been working on this week?

I'm so glad you all are back again for the Welcoming Spirit Blog Hop. Last week, we had some very thoughtful and deep posts shared on the hop. I'm so grateful for everyone who shared their work. Thank you :) for writing, for sharing, for being you!

I've spent a lot of time thinking about the words of Sister Mary Beth Ingham, a professor at the Franciscan School of Theology. She led part of a retreat I attended last weekend; and her explanation on Franciscan theology was inspiring. Simply put, it's a theology that embraces the idea that life is full of beauty, and God's creation is full of goodness and beauty. God has promised that He will be present with us for our journey, present in a way that goes beyond the physical realm. He will be there, in our hearts, deeply rooted, in everything we see, in every bit of Creation we experience. He is there, in every bit of beauty, in every smile, every flower, every person. The Creation is good, we are good, and God wants us to thrive in the beauty He's created. I'm glad I got to spend some time away from the busy-ness of life. It's so important to be reminded of these things.

Monday, March 26, 2012

As part of February's Finance month, I'm still on the hunt to find ways to save money around the house. Since we were running out of refills for our usual soap, I decided to google ways to make liquid hand soap at home. As detailed by Savvy Housekeeping, it's really pretty simple to make, and comes in at less than a dollar for 2 quarts of soap. This should have us set for months.

Grate enough soap to make 1 cup of shavings. I had a lot of small soap samples from Goat Milk Stuff, and I was super happy to have found a way to put these samples to use. You might have some travel size soaps, or a bar you're not using - anything will work.

Get a rather large pot, and pour in 10 cups of water. Place this on the stove top and put it on about medium. Then pour in the cup of grated soap. You'll want to get the water warm enough to dissolve the soap, but not boil.

Stir a bit, and let the grated soap melt in the water. Then pour in 1 tablespoon of glycerin.

Let the liquid cool overnight, and then use a funnel to pour the soap in to a pump dispenser. You'll notice that it goes from being fairly runny to a thicker consistency. Mine took 3 days to really "set" and now feels quite luxurious. I also added some essential oil for scent.

On Sunday morning, I ran out to get the paper. It had rained the night before. I was wearing little slipper socks from Christmas around the house, so I put on some old gold flats to go outside so they didn't get soaking wet.

And I was wearing a pair of brown pajama pants, along with a grey sweatshirt that's several sizes too big. I hadn't brushed my hair. And I laughed at how my feet looked like sausages stuffed into my shoes. I wondered to myself, "Who dresses like this?"

I stepped out the door and sure enough, our across the street neighbor was outside getting something out of the trunk of her car. The all too familiar sense of "oh crap, someone has actually seen me looking like this" filled my mind. But instead of giving in and acting sheepish about this moment, I smiled widely, waved at her and yelled, "Beautiful Morning!" And she looked stupefied and waved back. I proudly walked back into my house with my newspaper.

Who knows how I seem to get myself in to these situations.

The week before, Sean saw some ducks out on the front lawn. So we all went out in our pajamas to feed the ducks some cheerios. Zoom still runs out the door and yells "Honk honk" looking for them. (If you ask Zoom, all birds make the noise "honk honk." And they always have. I kind of hope they always do.)

I think we may have become "that family" on the block. The one who doesn't care how they are dressed before they run out of the house on weekend mornings, the ones who feed ducks in their pajamas, the ones who encourage their baby to play other peoples' tether ball games. The ones who's baby makes the wrong animal noises and crawls around acting like a lion trying to get other kids to follow him.

I personally couldn't be more pleased with how all of this turned out for us :)

Friday, March 23, 2012

Tomorrow I get to go out to San Damiano Retreat in Danville, California. It's out near where I grew up and went to high school. While it's only about an hour away, it always feels like going "home" in some ways. My parents moved away after I graduated from college, and so this has become the place that I can sit and gaze at my favorite mountain on a pretty deck:

Or wander in a garden:

Or feel at peace in a pretty courtyard in the warm sun:

I'm lucky enough to get to be on their board of advisors, and to lead retreats there, too. ﻿My heart sings when I am there, and I'm so glad that I've gotten to know many of the people that work, live, and attend retreats there, too.

I hope you'll do a little something to restore your spirits this weekend. Let me know if I can say a little prayer for you over the weekend at San Damiano. Just comment below :)

Thursday, March 22, 2012

This was another week of great kids crafts :) Let's recap some of the entries!

The entry that received the most clicks was Sensitivity in Facial Expressions by Meaningful Mama. I love what Jodi has done with flash cards to help teach her kids what expressions mean, and how to react to them. What a cool idea!

The "Editor's Choice" award goes to Meaningful Mama's Rainbow Shaving Cream Bath Fun. I absolutely adore the idea of finger painting with colored shaving cream in the bath! So creative and fun, especially if a little one may not totally love bath time. This is awesome :)

Thank you to everyone for your submissions - and if you've been featured, please grab a button :)

A few rules for the linky party:
1. Link to your specific post, not the main page of your blog.
2. Grab the party button and post it on your blog or post so other people know about the party.
3. Please become a follower of Welcoming Spirit :) when you join the party.
4. Please do not add links that promote other giveaways, link parties or online shops. And please only add links for crafts that you have not submitted on Welcoming Spirit before.

The link party will start at 10:24am Thursday and end on Wednesday at 11:59pm (Pacific Time). By entering your link, you are giving me permission to use any part of your post including pictures in a spotlight on Welcoming Spirit. (I can't wait to highlight your work and give you credit and links back :)!

It's that time of the week again to link up! What have you all been working on this week?

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

This is the second week of the Welcoming Spirit Blog Hop. I was sincerely blown away by the posts that were shared last week, so moving, so truthful, so real. You all have so many positive stories, and there is so much inspiration in your words. Thank you for sharing, for posting, for blogging. If you haven't read the posts from last week, it's very much worth going back and checking them out.

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Our Lenten Study Circle has been focusing on "Tools" this week, and my co-leader's post today was just awesome. Her post made me think of the things I keep around, that clutter my home and my heart and my head.

I'm ready to toss the baggage in my life (material and emotional) that serves me no purpose. Some of it sits there and makes me feel guilty. Some of it could bless someone else if I gave it away, some of it was given to me by people no longer in my life but I feel compelled to keep it because there's an old memory I'm afraid I'll lose if that "thing" is gone. I don't necessarily treasure the "thing" but the gift giver or once-owner or situation in which I acquired the item (hellloooo college T-shirts, I'm looking at you). Or there's that pile of stuff I don't need but is "worth something" (copper planter sitting in the garage) so in my own perfectionism I keep it, thinking I'll put it on eBay or craigslist, but oh no, not "give" it away, it's valuable!

The irony to me is that while I don't use them, some are even kept from Goodwill because they are "too nice" to give away. That seems absurd, but I am sure I am not the only person who has a pile of "nice" things that I don't use, but can't quite part with. I'll admit that recently I've started to feel at odds about keeping those items around, they could bless someone else, bring joy to someone else's life.

It also makes me grateful that God does not have this same sense, this odd idea that I seem to have that good things shouldn't just be given away, but should be kept, their worth weighed in the balance before I decide if I should "give" them away.

Instead, God is in the habit of giving away the most precious of gifts. The gifts of our life, and of love. Even the life of his own Son. These are gifts that easily could have been deemed "too good" to share with anyone else, yet God granted them to each of us. There's no garage sale, no price, just ours for free with the only requirement that we love Him and each other.

I feel like I need to reconsider the way I give, what I give, and to whom I give things, and take God's example to heart. Love is at the heart of what He's given, and this is the example that we have on how to give. I'm struck by it's abundance, it's totality. And I'm reminded of Rumi's poem on love:

Thursday, March 15, 2012

This last week we had some great crafts - thank you all for joining. Here's the wrap up :)

The "Best Kid's Craft" goes to Kara, who submitted the very cute Tube flowers. Kara is on a roll, and this is her second week submitting the best kid's craft. These adorable flowers can be made by things you already have on hand. Way to go!

The "Editor's Choice" award goes to the Sugarchalk by Bilingual Crafting and Sewing. A very creative way to work with chalk :) that I can't wait to try!

If you've been featured, please post your badge with honor:

A few rules for the linky party:
1. Link to your specific post, not the main page of your blog.
2. Grab the party button and post it on your blog or post so other people know about the party.
3. Please become a follower of Welcoming Spirit :) when you join the party.
4. Please do not add links that promote other giveaways, link parties or online shops. And please only add links for crafts that you have not submitted on Welcoming Spirit before.

The link party will start at 10:24am Thursday and end on Wednesday at 11:59pm (Pacific Time). By entering your link, you are giving me permission to use any part of your post including pictures in a spotlight on Welcoming Spirit. (I can't wait to highlight your work and give you credit and links back :)!

It's that time of the week again to link up! What have you all been working on this week?

I've gotta be honest here. I've been mulling this post over in my head and dreading it. Finance month was supposed to be the month where we got our stuff in order. Instead, the universe had a different plan in mind. This last month, Sean lost his job and we became a one income family.

The good part? I had already started looking at our finances and had a spreadsheet in order before we found out. We knew what we spent, I'd analyzed our expenditures and we had already started talking about where we could save.

- move my multiple 401(k) rollovers to a single location. finally. - no, did not do this.

- check out the investment options for the 401(k) accounts and make a decision already. I let this slide as well, but it sits on my to do list.

- look at our spending and try to identify if we can save in a couple of key areas. Right now I know our water bill and electric bill seem really high. - yes! we did this!
**Specifically for the water bill, we've moved to a 3 or 4 loads a week limit. This seems to cover our darks, lights, whites, and "other" (which is usually linens). For our dish washer, we've moved to a "only run when full" rule.
**For the electric bill, we moved the thermostat a couple of degrees lower at night. Zoom sleeps in blanket sleepers, and we are not usually cold at all. We also turn the heat off during the day.

- assess the feasibility of .... buying a house this year. whoa. Check! Ok, this one is the weirdest update of them all. After looking at the costs of renting versus buying a place, we've actually found out that buying would be cheaper. What the what!?! Yes, you read that right, and I'll post more about this whack-stastic idea in detail sometime soon.

- do more research on coupons. Is there a way to make couponing work without having to buy a ton of stuff or buy stuff I don't usually use? - Check! I've signed up for Safeway coupons in a couple of different ways.

So what is the theme for March? Well, it's Spirit. I'm in the middle of planning for a two retreats and co-leading a Lenten Study Circle on Facebook, so Spirit makes the most sense this month. I'll post up my questions and goals in a post real soon, too. (The Welcoming Spirit blog hop is one of the things I've been hoping to do, and I'm so glad that it's up.)

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

I'm really excited about a new feature that starts today - the Welcoming Spirit Blog Hop. I know many of us write about inspiring, uplifting, positive stories, and I'd like to start weekly feature that gives us all a place to share that kind of writing.

Please add your link to the list below, and then in the spirit of a blog hop, please visit the others who have posted here. And comment! The idea is to create and encourage community, and to provide support to each other. A little while ago I prayed that I would find a way to create a community of supportive, spiritual bloggers, and this felt like the right way thing to do.

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

This year for Purim*, Zoom dressed as a golfer, a Scottish golfer to be exact. But it didn't start out that way. Since we are on a tight budget, we'd decided to dress Zoom in the dragon outfit he'd worn at Halloween. I had dreams of dressing him as Elvis, complete with a cape and kick-pleated pants, and maybe awesome sunglasses. But there was not money for that, so I rather sadly gave in to the idea of the dragon, and well, I felt defeated over the whole thing.

The morning of the Purim Parade, we were digging through Zoom's toy box, looking for his dragon hat. And that's when Zoom saw his golfer's Tam-o-shanter and put it on. Sean and I looked at each other, and realized that whether Zoom knew it or not, he'd stumbled on a great idea. He could go to the Purim Parade as a golfer!

We marched upstairs and found corduroy pants and an argyle sweater, along with a polo shirt. Zoom's little eyes gleamed when he saw that we were putting together a golfer outfit for him. He loves golf. He will watch it on TV, entranced. He has a tiny putter that he likes to swing in the house, mimicking what he sees the pros do.

Once we got the whole outfit together, we stopped near the front door for a photo session. Zoom was delighted, ecstatic even. He marched around with his club and his hat. In his joy, little Zoom taught me a few things. Sometimes a crazy old hat and a little boy's imagination is all it takes to make everything perfect. He didn't need anything brand new, or anything Elvis, to make his day the best day ever. He already had everything right here, at home. And it was perfect and it made him smile ear to ear.

I always want Zoom to feel special and loved. "Settling" on the dragon outfit for Purim made me feel like we'd had to compromise on the awesome factor, and that I was somehow failing Zoom (if even slightly) as his Momma. I realize now that I was letting my own guilt about our budget situation get in the way of letting me see "awesome" regardless of our situation. All I could see was that we didn't have enough. Instead, Zoom taught me that not only do we have enough, but we have the good life in abundance, and it's right in front of our own eyes, just ready for the taking. Awesome is a mindset, not an outfit. Abundance is a measurement of love, a way of seeing things.

I don't know it was his absolute delight in getting to be a golfer all day, or his outfit that made him the talk of the town at the Parade. He wore his hat all day (a rarity if we were, say, at the beach...), and he was still beaming when I picked him up that evening. Zoom had gotten to be just what he seemed to dream of being - a super cool Scottish golfer, and as we left the school I could not be prouder of him. I couldn't help but be amazed and grateful for who he is, a little wonder of a boy, so full of ideas, so thrilled with life, and so easily finding ways to be happy. In that moment, he reminded me that I need to think like a child sometimes, to look for the good in all things, to remember what it is like to believe in endless possibilities. As I put him in his car seat, I said a little prayer of thanksgiving for him, for life in abundance, for my little son who continues to teach me new lessons everyday.

Me wearing the hat in 2007, Zoom wearing it in 2012. It's a timeless classic.

*Little Zoom goes to day care at a Jewish temple, and each year they celebrate Purim by allowing all of the children to dress up and have a parade. Purim is a joyous holiday that can be traced back to the book of Esther. Preschoolers celebrate by making noise makers called graggers, eating triangle shaped cookies that represent a hat, and singing a lot of songs.

Monday, March 12, 2012

This weekend I wanted to make a Sunday breakfast, and use the things we had on hand. I knew we had eggs, milk, asparagus and cream cheese (amongst a lot of other things), and that sounded like a decent omelet. This omlet was delicious, and came in at about $1.85 for 3 servings. Not bad!

- Wash and break the asparagus at their "breaking point." Steam the asparagus and set aside. I use the Pampered Chef's steamer, and put the asparagus in the microwave for 4 minutes.

- Place the 6 eggs in a bowl and whisk with about a quarter cup of 2% milk.

- Use a little spray olive oil in a 7 inch pan. Place about 1/3 of the egg and milk mixture and place it on medium high heat.
- Drop 3-5 of the asparagus tips on one side of the omelet, along with a few one inch slices of the cream cheese. Make sure the asparagus is parallel to the mid-point of the omelet.

- Using a high-heat rubber spatula, work under the "empty" side of the omelet, easing up the side. Then flip the "empty" side over, covering the asparagus and cream cheese side. It's OK if this doesn't work as planned, you can always go with scrambled eggs if you don't find yourself with a "omelet" at the end.

- Flip the omelet to help cook both sides. You may want to use a couple of spatulas to help keep the omelet in one piece.

- Take off the heat and place on a plate. We put a bit of cheese on ours!

- This batch of eggs and ingredients should make 3 omelets.

Zoom could not get enough of this omelet, which was his first time also trying eggs (he's 18 months old). He kept signing for "more, more," and I'm pretty sure he ate more than either Sean or I.

Friday, March 9, 2012

This last weekend I tried out a new recipe for Spinach Dip Bread Bowls that I'd found on the Grocery Budget site, which I modified to be Gluten Free.

We are on week two of trying to keep our grocery bill under about $75.00 This week we managed to save 27% off of our bill by keeping to the sale items and using a few coupons. This week I tried hard to bring my lunch and was able to do so every day with the leftovers we've had. That's another savings of about $10 to $20.

Lightly oil the ramekins with olive oil using a paper towel and set aside.

Prepare the Gluten Free Bisquick following the pizza dough recipe. This yeilded enough for seven ramekins.

Flatten the dough, and press it in to the ramekin, leaving a little indentation in the middle.

Defrost the spinach while heating the olive oil in a small skillet over medium heat, add coarsely chopped spinach for 2 minutes, add garlic and stir gently for another minute, remove from heat.

In a medium bowl combine cream cheese and sour cream until smooth. Add the seasonings, cooked spinach/garlic blend, Parmesan Cheese, Mixing until well combined. Scoop dip into each of the centers of the pizza dough bowls.

Sprinkle the top of each bread bowl with shredded cheese and bake for 17-20 minutes. The edges should just be turning brown.

Remove from oven, let cool before serving.

I left the extras in their ramekins and took them to work for lunch. Warming them for between 60 and 90 seconds seemed to be perfect.

If you are serving them for lunch, you can always remove them from the ramekin and serve with a salad.

As a tip; I find that ordering Gluten Free Bisquick from Amazon in a pack of three under their subsciption is the best deal out there. It's $18.40 for three boxes. You can check it out on Amazon by clicking on the link below.

I'm not being perked or paid to promote the product, it's just the best price I've found! :)

And the "Editor's Choice Award" goes to the Thumb War puppets by Chocolate Cake Moments. These are so easy and adorable, I can see a family having a lot of fun making these simple puppets for a fun Friday night activity.

If you have been featured, please pick up your badge and post it with pride!

A few rules for the linky party:
1. Link to your specific post, not the main page of your blog.
2. Grab the party button and post it on your blog or post so other people know about the party.
3. Please become a follower of Welcoming Spirit :) when you join the party.
4. Please do not add links that promote other giveaways, link parties or online shops. And please only add links for crafts that you have not submitted on Welcoming Spirit before.

The link party will start at 10:24am Thursday and end on Wednesday at 11:59pm (Pacific Time). By entering your link, you are giving me permission to use any part of your post including pictures in a spotlight on Welcoming Spirit. (I can't wait to highlight your work and give you credit and links back :)!

It's that time of the week again to link up! What have you all been working on this week?